Our first look

The CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite came perilously close to snatching the Best Buy award, but the Chillblast Fusion Trojan offers a little extra power. This is mainly down to the processor – the Chillblast Fusion Trojan comes with an E6850 version of Intel’s Core 2 Duo rather than the CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite’s slightly weaker E6750.

In our WorldBench real-world speed tests, the CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite trailed the Chillblast Fusion Trojan by four points. This isn’t a massive difference and the typical user won’t be affected by the CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite’s comparative lack of speed. And in certain areas it gets its own back on the Chillblast Fusion Trojan.

In terms of gaming, the CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite has a very slight edge. This is mainly down to its Sapphire rendition of the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics card, which is marginally faster than the Chillblast Fusion Trojan’s 640MB 8800 GTS. Once again, however, the two machines were extremely closely matched.

The CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite falls behind again with its Yuraku screen. This is a solid flat-panel, but the Chillblast Fusion Trojan’s Hannstar AH191DP offers a better picture – the latter’s widescreen capabilities also give it an advantage. There will be some potential customers who prefer non-widescreen dimensions, but we suspect they will be in the minority.

Audio isn’t stunning, but it’s not the worst we’ve heard – particularly with few PCs at this price point housing anything close to a decent sound card. The CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite's DVD writer is fast enough, however, and the three-year warranty is extensive.

Verdict

Generally speaking, the CyberPower Gamer Infinity XT Elite is an excellent system. If you can’t get hold of the Chillblast Fusion Trojan, CyberPower’s Gamer Infinity XT Elite would serve as a very able deputy.